Young people’s participation in political life is an important value for all democracies. For this reason, among others, the high abstention rate observed among young people in recent elections should be sounding alarm bells. In parallel, the number of young people elected to Parliament is very low. The Italian Constitution provides that people aged 25 and over can stand for election to the Chamber of Deputies, yet young people represent just 7% of the total number of candidates and elected members. This is a well-established trend: between 2018 and 2022 the number of under-35s elected to the Italian Parliament fell by 80%, from 133 to 27.
Young people’s absence from the political sphere in part reflects their low numbers in demographic terms: Italy has the most marked generational imbalance in Europe, with the lowest number of under-35s as a percentage of the total population. Indeed, just 17% of the Italian electorate is in the 18-35 age group.
While it is vitally important to encourage the new generations to participate in society and in political life, it is also necessary to avoid the trap of “youth at all costs”, whereby being young is viewed as a value in itself. A decent political education, shared values, and a desire to contribute to the general interests of society are essential qualities in those who aspire to perform leading roles in a democratic system. Moreover, as with the older population, young people’s skills, experience and value systems will vary in degree and in strength.
While the demographic crisis means that young people’s importance and influence in the public sphere has been decreasing, their low representation in national institutions means that the voice of an essential element of society is missing from the political debate. Similarly, an analysis of political parties’ electoral manifestos shows just how little space is devoted to the issues and problems experienced by young people and to developing concrete, and not merely rhetorical, solutions to their pressing needs in today’s world.
The reasons for the new generations’ lack of interest in politics are, of course, numerous. On the one hand, referendums and changes in the law have led to a marked reduction in recent years in the number of seats and positions available at the national and local levels, which in turn has led to increased difficulties in political parties’ internal dynamics and to higher and significant barriers to entry to political life. And on the other, the need to successfully complete their educational and training pathways and enter, and without too much delay find satisfactory jobs in, the labor market are the real priorities for young people. They push any ambitions regarding active participation in public life into the background.
Various initiatives could be considered to encourage young people to engage in political life. Legislative initiatives, for example, could assess changes to the electoral system with a view to fostering their inclusion in electoral lists at both the national and local levels. Increased awareness and accountability could be instilled in the educational system, to ensure that subjects such as history and civic education are given greater weight and young people’s engagement in voluntary work and in the public life of their towns and cities is valued and recognized.
It would also be good to see a greater willingness among the country’s political class to transmit their experience and knowledge to the under-30s. A commitment is vital, by all political forces, to view their young members as valuable resources to be developed and valued and not, as sometimes happens, as challengers whose ambitions and ascent must be held back. Cooperation between different generations can and must be a value both for individual parties and for society as a whole.
To conclude, recent surveys show, interestingly, that the younger generations have more trust than their elders in the European institutions. Their trust in national institutions is in line with the rest of the population – at medium-low levels, sadly, with the exception of the Presidency of the Republic. Young people’s trust in the armed forces and other bodies of the State is high, albeit slightly lower than that of the population aged 35 and over.